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Is Instinct good choice for younger hiker?

C.sco
over 5 years ago

My son is 10, and he's ready for his first Garmin watch. He currently has a kid's fitbit, which he loves, except that it lacks all the data he craves. ABC sensors, GPS, HR, breadcrumb trails, etc.

I'm a Fenix 6X owner, and he's tried in on, and it's.... a little big on him :D But the size doesn't really seem to bother him (although, he's never worn it longer than a few minutes). Is the Instinct smaller and lighter? I realize it's a rugged (and not that small) watch, but do you guys think he would like wearing it all day? Or would it be too ridiculously big? And is the UI easy enough to use that a relatively tech-savvy kid could use it?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

  • 0 over 5 years ago

    I believe it could be all right for a 10 years old boy, though you'd better try it in a local store before purchasing to be sure about the fit and size. The watch is very light. And I guess your boy will have less problems with the usage than you with your F6 Slight smile

  • 0 over 5 years ago

    Thanks for that input! That's a great idea, I believe my local REI has it in stock, I'll take him there to try it on soon.

    trux said:
    And I guess your boy will have less problems with the usage than you with your F6

    I'm one of the lucky "few" who are actually pretty happy with the F6 ;) Just not too keen on forking over another $900 for a second one for him Joy The Instinct seems like a great watch!

  • 0 over 5 years ago in reply to C.sco

    Yes, it offers great value for the low price it has today. Not as fancy and elegant as F6, and missing the color display, music, payments, oxymetry, and the IQ technology, but otherwise it has almost all what the F6 has. Especially usefull for people snorkelling or doing some shallow diving, because besides the Fenix and Descent, it is the only Garmin watch rated to 100m.

  • 0 over 5 years ago in reply to trux
    trux said:
    missing the color display, music, payments, oxymetry, and the IQ technology

    All things that I don't think my 10 year old son would care much about, so it sounds perfect! I think I'm sold... as long as it fits his wrist ok, I think it'll be the perfect watch for the job. Definitely a major upgrade from the $60 fitbit he's been using!

  • 0 over 5 years ago in reply to C.sco

    When I was 10, many years ago, I was quite chuffed to buy my "tool watch". (and I used things like the alarms for reminding me when it was time to get up, go to the bus etc) I think it was a Timex Ironman with Indiglo.

    I think the Instinct would be fantastic for a 10 year old. Size is good and the five-button UI is intuitive.

    DCR's full review here: https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2018/10/garmin-instinct-gps-watch-in-depth-review.html

    He gets into some of the UI/UX.

    When you get the watch, go into settings and look at "Hot Keys". You can map things like "HOLD START" to the timer or stopwatch, and hold multiple buttons for "save position" (or man overboard).

  • 0 over 5 years ago in reply to Otto-Destruct
    Otto-Destruct said:
    When I was 10,

    When I was 10, we were still using sun dials. :) 

  • 0 over 5 years ago in reply to Otto-Destruct

    When I was 10, I had one of these bad boys right here! I was the coolest kid in my class, getting to turn on the classroom TV to cartoons and confusing the teacher Smiley I still have it in a drawer somewhere!

    I've read through the DCR review for the Instinct, it seems like it's quite a nice watch! I'm almost a little jealous he'll be geting it, and not me, haha. Good tip about the Hotkeys, I set those up on my F6X as well and it definitely helps simplify things! I think the fact that the Instinct isn't CIQ compatible probably is a good thing in this case, as CIQ stuff tends to make things work a bit more wonky. He needs something that just is what it is, right out of the box.

  • 0 over 5 years ago

    I would love to have one of these as a 10yr old.  UI is easy to figure out.

  • 0 over 5 years ago

    Just an update, my son's new Instinct arrived today, and he is absolutely in love with it! We went for a 5k "run" (mostly walking, haha) tonight so he could try it out, and he loves everything about it. He got the hang of the UI pretty quickly, and has already figured out most of the Connect app as well. Kids are so much better at this stuff than we adults are Slight smile

    So thanks for all the advice and recommendations, it's the perfect watch for him.

    The stats for our 5k, by the way, were right on par with what my Fenix 6X was showing. I believe there was only a 0.02 mile difference, which could easily be due to his zig-zagging on the trail. Elevation was spot on, HR seems good (I was worried about that with his very tiny wrists), GPS track looks great.... all around, we're both very happy!

  • 0 over 5 years ago in reply to C.sco

    I should add, not only was his elevation "spot on", but it was better than my Fenix 6X. His (correctly) showed us around 250ft, while my Fenix 6 showed us at sea level, which was not correct... so apparently I need to work on the calibration on my watch. His Instinct was perfect. Two thumbs up for this watch, it's working awesome so far